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Epistasis is a phenomenon in genetics in which the effect of a gene mutation is dependent on the presence or absence of mutations in one or more other genes, respectively termed modifier genes. In other words, the effect of the mutation is dependent on the genetic background in which it appears. [ 2 ]
Fitness epistasis (an interaction between non-allelic genes) is positive (in other words, diminishing, antagonistic or buffering) when a loss of function mutation of two given genes results in exceeding the fitness predicted from individual effects of deleterious mutations, and it is negative (that is, reinforcing, synergistic or aggravating ...
Systematic pairwise deletion of genes or inhibition of gene expression can be used to identify genes with related function, even if they do not interact physically. Epistasis refers to the fact that effects for two different gene knockouts may not be additive; that is, the phenotype that results when two genes are inhibited may be different ...
Epistasis occurs when the expression of one gene is modified by another gene. For example, gene A only shows its effect when allele B1 (at another locus) is present, but not if it is absent. This is one of the ways in which two or more genes may combine to produce a coordinated change in more than one characteristic (for instance, in mimicry).
Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. [2] The number of alleles an individual can have in a specific gene depends on the number of copies of each chromosome found in that species, also referred to as ploidy. In diploid species like humans, two full sets of ...
Non-additive effects involve dominance or epistasis, and cause outcomes that are not a sum of the contribution of the genes involved. Additive genetic effects are singularly important with regard to quantitative traits , as the sum of these effects informs the placement of a trait on the spectrum of possible outcomes.
Modifier genes can alter the expression of other genes in either an additive or multiplicative way. [3] Meaning the phenotype that is observed can be a result of two different alleles (gene variants) being summed or multiplied. However, a reduction in expression may also occur in which the primary locus, where the gene is located, is affected. [4]
This process is often characterized by a description of the starting and ending states, or the kind of change that has happened at the level of DNA (e.g,. a T-to-C mutation, a 1-bp deletion), of genes or proteins (e.g., a null mutation, a loss-of-function mutation), or at a higher phenotypic level (e.g., red-eye mutation).